


A Change, for Better or for Worse

by RiYuYami



Series: Pulling Strings [31]
Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: CHAPTER FOUR SPOILERS, Gen, Psychological Horror, Same with Henry, Something is very wrong with Bendy now, What is going on in this studio?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-09
Updated: 2018-05-09
Packaged: 2019-05-04 06:07:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14586630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RiYuYami/pseuds/RiYuYami
Summary: Something is wrong, was it from being in the machine for so long? Was it from him becoming more like the Ink Demon everyone consider him to be? Well, whatever it is… it might help him in ending the angel’s control of the lower levels…And what of Henry? What is happening to him since waking up after the elevator crash? Did something happen to his head, or is this the work of the ink?





	A Change, for Better or for Worse

**Author's Note:**

> Chapter four being out has given me so many new ideas for this!
> 
> As soon as this scary shit happened, and "Bendy's" new design was revealed, I wanted to write something for each other them.
> 
> Then I just smashed them together in this fanfic cause it was fun.
> 
> Warning: mild spoilers! That I changed slightly to fit my au, but I might as well tag this for you guys.
> 
> On with the fic!

A loud splat caught “Bendy’s” attention as he walked carefully up the rickety steps, leading up to another area of level S. He stopped, letting out a questioning growl as he touched his side, where he had felt a strange, painful tingling just moments before the wet sound.

Well, this was unexpected.

He was missing ink.

Yes, he dripped constantly, but nothing like this. He lost a lump of ink, not just little drops. This couldn’t be good, what the hell just happened? Nothing like this has happened before, if anything, he gained ink to turn him into the eight-foot demon he was now!

He connected with the images in the large room, looking down at himself. Well, this was… an unexpected scene. A large chunk of his stomach had just collapsed off of himself, it was now sitting on the wooded planks, a solid wad of ink. Reaching down, he picked it up, a bit surprised to see little bits of it flaking off of the lump, floating about his hand.

 **“Well… this is new.”** He commented to himself as the ink dripped between his fingers. **“Drew, I swear to whoever, if yer messin’ wit’ da machine-!”**

“Bendy” hissed when another spell of that strange tingling occurred on his other side. He stumbled, slamming into the wall next to him. He felt more ink slip off of him, running down his side, hitting the floor. What was happening to him?! Why was he falling apart?!

Oh… oh no, no, no! Was he… was he becoming unstable?!

No, “Bendy” couldn’t let that happen! Not until he saved Boris, not until he got revenge on the humans, not until he tore “Alice” apart! He couldn’t be falling apart, he was the Ink Demon! He was the most dangerous and feared being in the studio! If he showed weakness, then “Alice” won, Joey Drew would be able to take him away and finish him off for good!

He couldn’t go back to the ink and never wake up again, he didn’t want to experience the only true form of death for something like him…!

The demon’s vision suddenly distorted.

He could no longer see the cavern-like room he was in, no, he… he was in a library of sorts now. A horrible pain pounded in “Bendy’s” head as his vision swum, the room seemed to be rumbling, moving, before he’s suddenly looking through the eyes of his posters again. **“What…?”** He leaned against the wall once more, his head still hurting.

Why did he see that room? What just- wait, this happened before. A while ago, back when Henry first arrived, when he passed out in the pentagram-marked room after escaping him the first time…

Wait… Henry? Was it Henry? He focused, on the cutout in the archives. Black eyes stared at the human that was leaning against the table, clutching at his head, looking rather disturbed. Ah, yes… this was Henry’s fault, it had to be! But why had the Ink Demon seen that? Why had he felt this pain that Henry seemed to also be dealing with?

Was it the ink? Hmmm, just how powerful was it, for whatever this little ‘bond’ is that they shared? Even “Bendy” himself didn’t understand the ink enough to know all of its abilities, he only recently discovered that he was connected with his creator through it, just how much of it affected them both at the same time?

He can’t say for sure if he could feel everything Henry felt, and vice versa. He knew he could sense the human sometimes, when they were close enough, but he didn’t know what Henry knew, felt.

Now this made “Bendy” curious, was the ink… changing? It did seem different since his last escape from the machine, there was something with it. Had it been experimented with when he wasn’t paying attention? Or was something happening with it now?

He let out a growl as his left hand burned! He watched as his fingers twitched, contorted painfully, before his strange pinky-like finger broke right off. He stepped back, looking at the appendage as it rolled down the wooden plank, before falling through a crack into the dark abyss under him.

A shrill laugh echoed through the chamber and “Bendy” felt rage bubble up in him.

“ _Awww, how cute~!_ ” “Alice’s” taunting voice echoed. “You’re finally starting to become **unstable!** While I continue to become **_more and more beautiful!_** ”

 **“Shut up, Angel!”** “Bendy” snapped before gasping, his right foot now burned, his ink painfully shifting to repair the damaged split in it.

“It’ll only be a matter of time before that **tainted ink of yours finally takes care of you** , and by then, your **_precious Henry and Boris_** will be gone. It’s for the best, you could never save your best friends.”

**_Kill… kill her…_ **

“Bendy” snarled as he hunched over, his back snapping loudly, sharp spikes of pain ran up his spine as it started to change…

**_Slaughter her…_ **

**_Paint the walls red with their blood…_ **

Ink was dripping rapidly over his mouth. Flakes of it started to float about his whole person, not just his cartoony hand. He was losing his connection to the posters as everything was coated in thicker, darker, moving splatters of ink from his trails.

“What are **you doing, Ink Demon?** ” He heard “Alice’s” voice over the pounding in his head, the whispering voices.

He snapped his neck up in the direction of the speaker, where the voice came from, his body twitching. His grin was twitching as well, moving about on the only visible part of his face, as if it was stuck in that upturn style.

“Bendy” felt… different, taller, thinner, yet so much more powerful as he kept his attention on the speaker. He moved fast, launching himself up at the speaker where he yanked it right from the wall.

 ** _“What are you doing?!”_** “Alice” repeated, from another speaker, somewhere else in the room. “Don’t you **dare!** ”

He just tilted his head, before throwing it into the abyss below him. The room was covered in his lines, it was so much darker, making him look more terrifying.

**_Break her! Break the angel like you did that device!_ **

**_Punish her like you will him!_ **

**_Kill anyone in your way…_ **

**_Don’t let them live…_ **

**_Henry will die because of her…!_**

**_Boris needs saved! He’s running out of time!_ **

**_It’s too late, she’s done something horrible to him…_ **

**_Then make her pay…_ **

**_Make her pay…_ **

**_Make her pay!_ **

“Bendy” moved on his own, limping along the path as the voices grew louder and louder in his head. The more they talked, the more he desired to do as they said.

**_End the angel!_ **

\--

Henry frowned, looking at the door in front of him. The valve seemed to be missing, making him think of what happened when he was the music department’s infirmary. Wait a minute, he saw one in Grant’s office!

But… he didn’t want to go back there, he could hear it… whispers in the room, from the walls, the floor, the ceiling, the ink. He didn’t understand any of it, but it reminded him of the voices in the ink when he died twice. He shuddered, but knew he had to continue on. Boris was counting on him, and Henry would be damned if he abandoned his friend just because he didn’t like the voices!

Shaking his head, Henry trekked back to Grant’s office, rushing quickly to get the valve. He did his best to ignore the talking, and the writing on the walls, the tape that was nothing but horrifying screams and sounds. He rushed down the hall and to the door, putting in the valve, before turning it.

The sight behind the door was unsettling. It was dark, and there was a strange air to the room as Henry stepped inside, then the lights turned on and the animator realized that there was something horrifying before him.

There was a stage in the middle of the room, the lights on it were on, illuminating the subjects that stood upon it. In the middle of it was a large Bendy statue, bigger than the ones Henry had returned from the ink in front of, with a banner above it. The banner read **HE WILL SET US FREE** , reminding the animator of Sammy.

But it was what surrounded the statue that made Henry nervous.

Several figures stood before it, completely coated in dripping ink. They appeared to be human in shape and size, though very malnourished looking. Tendrils of ink dripped from their mouths, and they were all posed either in fear or worship of the statue.

“What the heck is this?” Henry blinked, looking at the inky figures in wonder. He had never seen anything like this before in the studio. Was this “Alice’s” work? Or was this Sammy’s, considering the statue and the banner.

“Uhh… yeah, I’m just gonna… move along now?” He watched the figures as he stepped into the next room, surprised to find a strange, circular library. Was this the archives? The chandelier in the middle of the ceiling lit up the room, allowing Henry to see that the room was in two parts, the outer ring and the center ring. He stepped into the center ring, finding a table with another recorder.

There was a Bendy cutout watching him from against a book case, but there didn’t seem to be anything malicious about it. It just seemed… normal. Actually, despite the inky figures in the other room, nothing seemed ominous about the stuff in here. So far, this was the most normal looking place Henry’s seen since the first floor.

Well, at least the first part, before seeing the first ominous writing on the wall and everything going to hell from there.

He approached the recorder, and pushed the play button on it, hearing the not-so-sweet-now voice of Susie Campbell.

_"They told me I was perfect for the role. Absolutely perfect. Now Joey's going around saying things behind closed doors. I can always tell._

_Now he wants to meet again tomorrow, says he has an "opportunity" for me. I'll hear him out. But if that smooth talker thinks he can double cross an angel and get away with it, well, oh he's got another thing coming._

_Alice, ooh she doesn't like liars."_

… Okay, so much for this being a normal room. What the hell was that about? What happened to Susie that would make her so bitter like that?

Oh.

This isn’t exactly helping Henry to ignore the idea that “Alice Angel” might be his former co-worker.

Turning away, Henry continued to take a look around. He found a door, but it appeared to be locked, until he bumped a book back into place on a shelf, which seemed to light up a bulb above the door. “Oh, so that’s how that works.” He blinked, maybe if he pushed in certain books, it could open the door.

Leave it to Joey to have puzzles everywhere in this damn place. He always liked to make things complicated just for the hell of it.

Henry moved to another shelf, pushing in a book, seeing another lightbulb activate. He also took notice to something else, the other room’s inky figures were missing.

“Oh no…” Where did they go? Did they just… vanish? Uhg, the ink around here really needed to stop being so weird.

He moved back into the inner circle, finding another book sticking out. But just as he pushed it in, Henry let out a horrible, pained shout as something seemed to burn behind his eyes. The room spun, shaking, even the light fixture was spinning wildly in circles. Henry stumbled, screaming as his vision blurred in reds, golds, blacks, and white, like everything was a melting film strip.

There was a loud booming in his head, voices from every direction, the pain in his skull was horrible, the worst he’s felt since coming here!

The Bendy cutout in the room looked so different, almost as if it was a real Bendy, not the monster form, but if Bendy looked like a real, living Toon.

Henry slammed down onto the table, just as his vision started to return to normal, the voices started to quiet down, and the pain vanished. He panted hard, collapsed against the surface, trying to get his breathing and heart beat to return to normal. His muscles ached, and he felt sick. He didn’t notice that the Bendy cutout was watching him now, trying to figure out what that mess was all about.

“Fuck…” The animator hissed as he tried to push himself up, his body shaking. “W-what was that all about?” That was new, sure, but… it was something he really did not need to have happen again! It reminded him too much of what happened before, after he had fallen through the floor on the first floor and ended up in the pentagram room.

He had felt a similar pain in his head, but he had seen ink on the walls when it happened, and there were flashes of images in his head.

But this time was so different, he really hoped it wouldn’t happen again.

\--

Henry stood before the door, glancing behind himself at the cavern he was in. That cart he had ridden had set his nerves on edge, and he was already uncomfortable and paranoid of this new place as it was. He breathed through his nose before opening the door, surprised to find a mine shaft. Well, this was unexpected, why was there a mine shaft in the studio?

Then again, what was going on with all of this stuff past the archives? What had Joey been up to in this area of the studio?

He stepped into the long, dark hallway, moving a few feet, before he was struck again with that horrible pain, his vision going nuts. Only this time it was worse that what he saw in the archives. Through his blurred, moving vision, Henry saw black, ink-soaked hands reaching out for him, trying to touch him. He screamed, the voices he heard before were back, but louder, sounding to be in pain.

_Help us!_

_Please, we just wanna go home!_

_He’s gonna send us back!_

_Where am I… this isn’t right…!_

_Can you help me? Us?!_

_You came back!_

“Stop, stop!” Henry shouted, running through the shaft, feeling the cold hands touching him until the visions and pain suddenly stopped. He was alone, the voices gone, same with the hands, everything was normal again.

Henry shuddered at the phantom feeling of the cold, wet hands that had touched his skin.

What was that all about? Why was he having these weird… visions? Was that what they were?

This had to be a side-effect to the ink, did any of the other beings here see what he saw?

He rubbed his arms before entering the next area, wanting to forget all that.

\--

“Bendy” roared loudly, frightening the Lost Ones in the area. He turned his head about, his inky vision was cleared, well, to a point. He was seeing another strange vision, of Henry walking in an old hall, inky hands reaching for him.

The Ink Demon hissed loudly, swatting at the hands, even though he knew they were not really there in front of him. But that didn’t stop him from wanting to attack, the voices in his head weren’t helping either. He screeched loudly, the darkness returning to his eyes, but that didn’t stop him from rushing towards the closets lifeform to him.

It was a Lost One, who had wandered to close to him. “Bendy” didn’t care who or what it was, he was furious and needed to attack, he needed to kill! He sliced through the creature, who let out a horrible cry, then dissolved into a puddle.

With a growl, “Bendy” slammed his foot down on the puddle, it started to seep into the floor, returning to the ink. He unconsciously knew the Lost One would return, but now… well… he didn’t know what he was doing, he was just so angry, everything needed to be destroyed, especially the angel! To destroy her, he would be closer to his goals in this game he set up.

His mouth twitched violently as the ink ran down his face, his snarled as he stepped away from the remaining ink of the poor life he had returned to the puddles. The voices were shouting at him again, he needed to listen to them.

Henry needed to be forgotten for now, the Ink Demon needed to find the Angel and break her, destroy her, end her. He stumbled off, his lines spreading further and further as he moved along, the voices shouting and whispering at him as the Lost Ones cowered in the shadows, hoping he would pass without anyone else getting hurt.

END

**Author's Note:**

> “Bendy’s” starting to become unstable, that is what is going on in this au. In fact, he’s starting to lose his ability to keep himself in check, the voices in the ink are making things… difficult. Not just for him, but for Henry as well.
> 
> Seems like we have a lot more to this game in the studio than originally expected, but that’s cause chapter four’s release changed A LOT of what I had planned for this damn story! Oh well, I can work with a lot of this, plus I like the idea of “Bendy” becoming damaged by the ink outside of just his body changing.
> 
> The ink, his demonic powers, and Joey’s dark blood magic that royally fucked up Bendy’s way of thinking, all mixed together makes a terrible bacon soup of troubles for him and Henry to deal with.
> 
> Thanks for reading, please comment and kudos!


End file.
